Dispensers for disposable sheet products such as facial tissue, moist wipes and so forth are frequently disposable themselves being made from cardboard or polymer film or are refillable wherein, for example, a thermoformed container is initially provided with the disposable sheet product and refill packages are used to replenish the container. In any event, it is typically difficult to start dispensing disposable sheet product because of its very nature; being relatively thin, it is difficult (for all but those of great manual dexterity) to withdraw a single sheet from the container. For instance, moist wipes are typically distributed in sealed containers which retain their moisture and are often supplied in folded form, in a stack. Since the wipes readily adhere to one another, they are difficult to separate such that more than one wipe is grasped by a consumer. One solution to this problem has been the use of dispensers provided with two lids, an inner, aperture lid and an outer, sealing lid. FIG. 1 is a view in perspective of a currently available dispenser for inter-folded moist wipes of the general class described above.
There is shown in FIG. 1 a prior art dispenser for dispensing inter-folded moist wipes. Prior art dispenser 10 includes a container 12 for receiving a stack of inter-folded moist wipes indicated at 14. The container is provided with an inner lid 16 having an aperture 18. There is further provided an outer lid 20 which does not have an aperture which is used for sealing the enclosure defined by the container. In order to start dispensing the stack, it is necessary for a user to open the inner lid and draw the lead moist wipe through aperture 18 in order to start the stack. Once the stack is started, the container is sealed by way of lid 20 after it is used so as to preserve the moisture of the wipes in the stack. It will be appreciated from the diagram, that it's necessary for the user to start the stack by first opening the inner lid and manually separating at least a portion of the lead sheet from the stack. This is sometimes difficult since moist wipes adhere to each other and are difficult to separate. In any event, once the stack is started a lead sheet such as sheet 22 will draw the subsequent inter-folded sheets through the aperture. As will be appreciated from the foregoing, the start-up of such dispensers can be time consuming and relatively complex, especially when the moist wipe is urgently required.
Perhaps more commonly, difficulty in starting the dispenser or refill pack simply leads to excess waste. A user will attempt to withdraw the first tissue or towel from a stack or roll and instead withdraw many more sheets than intended or needed. The excess sheets are oftentimes discarded without being used at all.